Eight killed in Nigeria suicide bomb attack

Police in Nigeria's northeast Borno state Tuesday said that eight people were killed in a suicide bomb attack at Dalori area of the state.

The suspected insurgents in a car threw improvised explosive device (IED) at a police patrol van, killing all the five policemen, Xinhua quoted the police as saying. The car also caught fire, killing the three occupants, state police spokesperson Gideon Jubrin told reporters in Maiduguri, the state capital.

"Two Golf saloon cars loaded with IED headed for Maiduguri from an unknown destination and one of the vehicles exploded around a government farm on Bama-Maiduguri highway," he said.

"The second vehicle met a police patrol van and the occupants threw the IED at the van, unfortunately the IED exploded killing all the five policemen on patrol while the Golf car also caught fire killing the three occupants," Jubrin said.

He described the incident as unfortunate.

Borno state has been a flashpoint of attacks perpetrated by Boko Haram since 2009, when the sect launched its insurgency targeting churches, security facilities, schools and villages.